How does one die to themselves? What practical advice would you give to someone seeking such advice?
Brother, it is good to see you posting again. I know you have gone through some rough waters. I am in the midst of white water class 5 rapids myself right now.
As to your question, and some of the replies, one thing I think we overlook is that self canbot crucify self. As the old adage goes, we might be able to mail oir feet to the dross. We might be able to nail one hand to the cross. But how does one get the other hand nailed?
I will share again what I have shared often. Once seen, once stepped into, ones life will nevee be the same. The amswer was exactly what God showed me in a visitation ten years ago, when I was at the end of my rope, without any more theories to try, with no hope of ever truly dying to my lust filled self nature.
The answer was found in Romans 6. Paul tells us that we mist know two immutable truths.
1) When Christ died, so did we. The old us is dead. It does not need to die.it died when Jesus died.
2) When Christ rose to newness of life, so did we. We are not to try to be new. We Re new, right now.
And our minds say "Ok then, why do I not see it? Why do I feel still at times..... most times.... like I am still a failure, still the same old man I was.
And what is the answer. Why do we not "cross over Jordan" and walk in the promised land? I will ask you, and others reading this excellent post, what God asked me that night.
Have you ever done what I instructed Paul to do?
And then God simply opened my eyes. What did Paul say immediately after these two truths we must know?
"Therefore, reckon yourself dead unto sin and alive unto God."
We as the church have had this truth hidden from our eyes ever since the grievous wolves came in as Paul predicted afted his passing over to glory. There is something we ar asked to DO.
What? Try harder? Fast? Memorize? Work? Resist temptation with fingernails dug in, miserable but not sinning, only to eventually give in..... again? No, He asks us to do the only thing He says thst truly pleases Him. He asks us to believe that these two truths are true for US. NOW.
And when a man does reckon this to be true.... add them to his spiritual bank account, with no visible change, with no chanfe of feeling, his good fight of fsith has really begun. And it is a fight he is destined to win.
Satan is the accuser of the brethren, right? I believe his greatest weapon is his accusations but there is a twist. He whispers in our ears that we are sinners, we are still the same old men with the same old flaws, that we will never change, but he does not say "You are a crumby worthless self driven failure. No, no. He whispers "I am a ....." and he does it in OUR voice!
It is then that the battle ensues. We counter that thought with the shield of faith held high. We are new creatures, right now. We are dead to self right now. And rhus, the words out of our mouths.... our testimony.... is that he is lying, and that we are new creatures in Christ, not trying to become new.
Do we immediately see outwardly this truth manifested? Do birds cone and light ob our shoulders as we walk? LOL. I wish. No. Remember, the law tries to change us from the outside inward, so we scrub at our external flaws, and never ever get to our inner man, our heart. It remains stained.
But not so with the new covenant. It starts as a tiny seed of purity at the venter of who we are. Novmatter how dark, how stained, how sinful our outer man has bevome through years of living as old natured beings, who are we?
Our core, who we truly are, is new.
Now if we slip, does it mean we are not new? That our self nature is still alive, and kicking and in control? Far from it. We ARE new regardless, but our enjoyment of it is blocked by our unbelief. So if we slip backwards, we do not vow to "do better next time". We can't. We won't. We will walk again as Romans 7 prisoners. No, we get up, dust ourselves off, repent of our slip and more importantly, our wavering faith as to who God has made us, and we stand again on the truth. We ARE new right now. We ARE dead to self. Right now.
And if we do so, God promises that we will become established in that faith, and become unwavering saints, walking pleasing to Him in all things.
One last point. We are told in Romans 8 to yield ourselves to God, but how difficult it is for us to do so. So we eventually settle down, line up with all the others, and confess "We are just sinners, always will be, till Jesus splits the sky." But we have overlooked seven critical words, words that change EVERYTHING. And what are they?
We are told to yild ourselves to God ....
as those who are alive from the dead.
It is time we awake and light our lamps, and BE who we really already are. A new day is dawning on His very sleepy, very confused, very lukewarm people. We are about to stand up as new creatures and overcome by not only the blood of the lamb but also by the words of OUR testimony.
Blessings to you, dear brother. If I can be of any assistance or answer any questions you might have, feel free to ask thrm or PM me. Free indeed is about to become real to us.... all of us. The bride is waking up, glory to God!
Gideon
